Galvanized Steel

Chapter 2

Author's note: vro i cant anymore
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A familiar voice rang in my ears as I lay half-awake on my bed.

"Suzy? Suzy! Achilla, breakfast is ready! Chop chop! You're gonna miss the bus!"

I was a bit startled as I heard my grandmother in a hurry. I checked my phone. 6:10 AM. Shit, I slept through my alarm again... it's the twelfth of August. First day of school. Can't be late.

I rushed to the bathroom for a quick wash and hurriedly slipped on my uniform and a sweater to top it off. "Coming, Grandma!" I shouted.

Down the stairs I went with my shoes and backpack on. The bus would be here any minute now. I subconciously shoved some bacon in my mouth as I heard my grandmother yap about some things protective grandmothers yap about.

"...now don't you go lurking around by yourself, okay? I don't deserve to lose my beautiful, precious granddaughter! Oh, and, are you sure you're completely ready?" she said with a slight stutter.
"I'll be fine! Grandma, I'm fifteen. Of course I know what I'm doing!" I chuckled.

We were lucky to grab a unit near the lobby; just enough to hear the bus' honking as I stared at a framed picture of my mother, right above the couch. "She'll be as proud of you as I am right now, my little star," my grandmother whispered after hugging me as tight as she can.

As you may or may not know, my mother is a single mom who currently works as a play director and author in Singapore for as long as I can remember. So in other terms, she works two jobs abroad leaving me and my grandmother here in Ohio.

I walked out the door, absent-mindedly smiling. "Take care, Suzy!"
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The school air hit me as soon as I took my first step back in campus. It was kind of awkward at first- I met many stares from the corridors to the classroom. Those didn't really bother me much, but the one thing that caught my eye was a young-looking girl who looked a few inches shorter than I was. She had sleek, brown hair beautifully styled in something which looked like a hime cut. She sat right in a corner, quietly retouching her makeup.

I didn't wanna sit with any of those loud-ass bitches who hated me for no reason. I looked back at the angel-faced girl. I had no other choice. Reluctantly, I strutted to a table right beside her and tried not to glance. I stared at the loud friend group, yelling and laughing at each other. Jerks, my mind said. I was going to grab my notebook and doodle out of boredom when the click-clack of a pair of heels suddenly entered the room.
The class of fourty-one lazily got up in unison. "Good morning, Miss..." our voices trailed off as we weren't quite familiar with who our adviser was. "Good morning, class! I am Miss Chira Smith, your adviser for this school year. Why don't we give our 'good morning' another go, shall we?" a sharp but bright and cheerful voice slipped off the somewhat-mid-looking teacher's lips. Yes, we did say our "good morning" in that dull, monotonous tone we always did for the entirety of our lives.

"That's so much better! Now, I'm happy to see you all fresh and ready for the new year, your last year as a junior! So... should we begin with an attendance check first?" she smiled and took her class record. "Okay, so, uh.. class number 1, Olivia Ashleigh Abrams?"
"Present," she answered with an arm tossed above her head.
She went on with numbers 2, 3, and so on. I almost dozed off when she suddenly called me at class number nine. "Suzanne Achilla Choi?" Heads turned. I started to tense up as I heard snickers from- you know it. Those assholes. I cleared my throat. "Uh.. present," I stumbled. I overthought a bit on why they hate me so much and why they've been holding grudges on me since seventh grade. I did nothing wrong. Well, except get a girlfriend that one specific bitch loved with her whole heart but eventually broke into pieces 'cause I "stole" her. Well, I don't know what happened after we broke up twenty-two days after. Shitty.

The friend group was called in consecutive class numbers. Class numbers fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen- it went on until class number twenty-four. Yeah. There's loads of them. The names and numbers came in a blur until..

"Class number 37, hmm. Patricia Pyrrha Neolah Todd. You're new, am I right?" Miss Smith questioned straightforwardly. "Yes, Miss." she spoke. She sounded like heaven, in contrary to what her name did. She caught me slightly grimacing, and met my gaze. She let out a giggle. "I know the struggle. Don't worry, I know it sounds ugly," she blushed. "Uhm.. hey, do I know you?"

"I- I guess I did hear about you..? Like, from my mom. Well, uh- I think, if I'm not mistaken..." I fumbled upon my words. "I think your dad was my mom's best friend in college and you know.. yeah. In classics, right?" I had nothing more to say. She was just too pretty.

"Oh! Wait, yeah! I guess they came up with this silly idea to grab some names out of the Iliad or something and turn them into some stupid baby names," she joked. I found myself laughing back. Our eyes met once more before we got started with our icebreaker. "Can we meet at recess?" she whispered.
"Hmm. Okay." I replied.